Radiant heaters have long been provided to dry manufactured articles that are carried below heating elements of the apparatus by a conveyor belt or as a web of material that is to be dried as in the case of printed textiles or paper. Such apparatus is also used to heat soften material which can then be vacuum formed to a desired shape or otherwise processed in the softened state. Heat transfer to the material being dried or heated is accomplished by radiation and also by convection as when a flow of air is directed over the radiant heating elements, where it is heated, and onto the material being processed. Quite often relatively high temperatures are employed to speed the flow of material beneath the heating elements and, as a consequence, the heating elements, and more particularly the electrical leads of the elements and the conductors connecting the elements to a power source, are subject to periodic failure. Such failure requires the apparatus to be shut down so that the damaged heating element can be replaced. The prior art (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,232) was cognizant of this problem and provided means to facilitate the replacement of radiant heating elements.